Disney Pixar’s latest animated feature, “Coco,” is a horror movie disguised as a colorful, visually dazzling film about family history.

It’s also a rare Hollywood feature that depicts Mexico as a country rich in culture, music and real people — not just a nation of murderous drug dealers, shiftless peasants, border-jumpers and other stereotypes. How refreshing.

“Coco” tells the story of Miguel (voice of Anthony Gonzalez), a 12-year-old boy who dreams of being a professional singer and guitarist, not a shoe-maker like everyone else in his family has been for four generations. The only problem is music is forbidden to be played or performed in his house. (It’s one of those strict rules that usually pops up in fairy tales and drives the plot.)

“Sometimes I think I was born cursed,” are the first words out of Miguel’s mouth as the tale begins.

Even though music is verboten, Miguel sneaks off to an attic space where he keeps a shrine to actor-singer Ernesto de la Cruz (voice of Benjamin Bratt), who hailed from Miguel’s hometown. He watches old videotapes of his idol’s movie musicals as he plays along on guitar. The lantern-jawed Ernesto was based on real-life singing star Vicente Fernandez, who always performed wearing a cowboy sombrero and fancy embroidered suit.

When the Day of the Dead festival rolls around, Miguel is determined to compete in a live music contest but needs a new guitar. He decides to raid Ernesto’s tomb and borrow his dead idol’s six-string. Bad move. Miguel is suddenly whisked off to The Land of the Dead, which is a bustling, vibrant, eye-popping city populated by talking skeletons. The place is so overwhelming it’s almost too much to take in.

The kid is accompanied by his nearly hairless, tongue-flapping dog, Dante, who looks like a Ralph Steadman drawing come to life. Every hero in every Pixar flick is required by law to have a funny sidekick and Dante certainly fits the bill. The odd-looking Xolo is described as resembling “a sausage someone dropped in a barbershop.”

Miguel decides to track down Ernesto, who is a mega-celebrity in The Land of the Dead, and gets help from a trickster skeleton named Hector (voice of Gael Garcia Bernal). The boy also wants to find out exactly what happened when his family into a pack of music-haters. Off they go into the surreal cityscape, a la the scary-as-hell “The Wizard of Oz” (1939).

Lee Unkrich is credited as the co-director of “Coco” along with Adrian Molina but Unkrich’s stamp is all over it. Unkrich has never been scared to explore the darker corners of the Pixar universe in his films such as the masterwork “Monsters, Inc.” (2001) and the downright terrifying “Toy Story 3” (2010). He’s a director who adores things that go bump in the night.

A borrowed guitar leads to big trouble in the Disney Pixar film "Coco."(Photo: Disney Pixar)

Even though most of “Coco” takes place in The Land of the Dead, it packs a poignant ending that speaks to the power of music.

While “Coco” can take its place somewhere near the top of Pixar’s best efforts, the short animated feature “Olaf’s Frozen Adventure” that is being screened before “Coco” runs is pure Disney sap. It stars the buck-toothed snowman Olaf (voice of Josh Gad) as he helps the recently reunited royal sisters Elsa (voice of Idina Menzel) and Anna (voice of Kristen Bell) of “Frozen” (2013) fame establish holiday traditions of their own.

The songs are deeply irritating, the story is corny, the action is hyper and there should definitely be a cap on jokes made about fruitcakes. Unless you have a few second-grade girls in tow, arrive late and skip “Olaf’s Frozen Adventure.”